Escape from Rome - (Princeton Economic History of the Western World) by Walter Scheidel (Hardcover)

About the Book

"In this book, Walter Scheidel provides a unique take on the perennial debates about the rise of the west. His main argument is straightforward and provocative: the fact that nothing like the Roman Empire ever again emerged in Europe was a crucial precondition for modern economic growth, the Industrial Revolution and worldwide conquest much later on. Contra Ken Pomeranz's classic thesis about the "Great Divergence" of the 18th/19th centuries when northwestern Europe pulled away from China and the rest of world in terms of economic performance and overall power, Scheidel argues there was a much more significant "first great divergence" in late antiquity which set the stage. Scheidel argues that it wasn't until the West "escaped" from the dominance of the Roman empire did it flourish economically (unlike China, comparison which will be explored in this book, which despite transformations and setbacks remained a "universal empire" for much of it's 2,200 year history). Scheidel approaches this "first great divergence" via a new take on some central question concerning the life and fate of the Roman Empire: How did the Roman Empire come into existence - did its rise depend on unique conditions that were never repeated later on? Was its fall inevitable? Why was nothing like the Roman Empire ever rebuilt? And did this matter for (much) later developments? He concludes by arguing that the fall and lasting disappearance of the Roman Empire was an indispensable precondition for later European exceptionalism and therefore for the creation of the modern world we now live in. From this perspective, the absence of the Roman Empire had a much greater impact than its previous existence and its subsequent influence on European culture, which is of course well documented in many domains and often accorded great significance. Scheidel does concede that a monopolistic empire like Rome's which first created a degree of shared culture and institutions but subsequently went away for good was perhaps more favorable to later European development than a scenario in which no such empire had ever existed in the first place. But, in answer to the question, ""What have the Romans ever done for us?" Scheidel replies: "fall and go away.""--

Book Synopsis

The gripping story of how the end of the Roman Empire was the beginning of the modern world

The fall of the Roman Empire has long been considered one of the greatest disasters in history. But in this groundbreaking book, Walter Scheidel argues that Rome's dramatic collapse was actually the best thing that ever happened, clearing the path for Europe's economic rise and the creation of the modern age. Ranging across the entire premodern world, Escape from Rome offers new answers to some of the biggest questions in history: Why did the Roman Empire appear? Why did nothing like it ever return to Europe? And, above all, why did Europeans come to dominate the world?

In an absorbing narrative that begins with ancient Rome but stretches far beyond it, from Byzantium to China and from Genghis Khan to Napoleon, Scheidel shows how the demise of Rome and the enduring failure of empire-building on European soil ensured competitive fragmentation between and within states. This rich diversity encouraged political, economic, scientific, and technological breakthroughs that allowed Europe to surge ahead while other parts of the world lagged behind, burdened as they were by traditional empires and predatory regimes that lived by conquest. It wasn't until Europe "escaped" from Rome that it launched an economic transformation that changed the continent and ultimately the world.

What has the Roman Empire ever done for us? Fall and go away.

Review Quotes

"Escape from Rome deserves to be taken very seriously . . . . this is a fiercely intelligent, closely argued book."---Peter Thonemann, Times Literary Supplement

"Escape from Rome is a well-written survey of an enormous literature on the history of the world. . . . It is fun and interesting to read. . . . An admirable book."---Peter Temin, EH.Net

"his book is a monument of sophisticated argument backed by an enormous amount of empirical data. It is an instant classic, one of the great books of the last quarter century."---European Journal of Sociology, John A. Hall

"A challenging, detailed and thought-provoking study of how the end of Rome benefited the West rather than the reverse."---Richard Owen, The Tablet

"A stimulating, thought-provoking work that will be of interest to professional and lay readers alike."---Paolo Tedesco, Jacobin

"A sweeping academic survey comparing empires and eras. . . . Escape From Rome makes bold claims about the nature of empire and the roots of the modern world and backs them up with thoughtful analysis."---Dominic Lynch, America

"A tour de force of world history."---Tony Jones, The Christian Century

"Consistently fascinating. . . .[Scheidel's] explanations are ingenious, ranging from traditions regulating inheritance to the respective topographies of Europe and Asia."---Steven Simon, Survival: Global Politics and Strategy

"Fascinating and arresting."---Stephen Davies, Reason Magazine

"Finalist for the PROSE Award in Archaeology and Ancient History, Association of American Publishers"

"Insightful. . . an outstanding modern summation of a strand of research which goes back at least as far as Montesquieu and David Hume."---Mark Koyama, Journal of Economic Literature

"One of the Evening Standard's Best Books of 2019"

"One of the Financial Times' Best Books of 2019: Economics"

"Scheidel makes a bracing case, backed by every counterfactual tool of contemporary scholarship, against resurgent European empire at any time. . . . What did the Romans do for us? Scheidel does not give the usual answers."---Peter Stothard, Financial Times

"Scheidel marshals his facts with verve and force . . . . the abiding impression left by reading this book is not that human progress was inevitable - even at such a bloody cost - but that it was profoundly fragile."---Robert Colvile, The Times

"Thought-provoking. . . . Impressive."---P.G. Wallace, Choice Reviews

"Walter Scheidel's Escape from Rome: The Failure of Empire and the Road to Prosperity is an outstanding, epic history of the fall of the Roman Empire and rise of the European West."---Simon Sebag Montefiore, Evening Standard

About the Author

Walter Scheidel is the Dickason Professor in the Humanities, Professor of Classics and History, and a Kennedy-Grossman Fellow in Human Biology at Stanford University. His many books include The Great Leveler: Violence and the History of Inequality from the Stone Age to the Twenty-First Century (Princeton). He lives in Palo Alto, California. Twitter @WalterScheidel